31 March 2026 :
March 31, 2026 - IRAN. Political Prisoners Pouya Ghobadi and Babak Alipour Hanged
For “rebellion (baghi) through membership in the Mujahedin-e Khalq.”
Vahid Baniamerian and Abolhassan Montazer at Imminent Risk
State media reported the hangings of political prisoners Pouya Ghobadi and Babak Alipour this morning after the executions of their co-defendants Mohammad Taghavi Sangdehi and Ali Akbar Daneshvarkar yesterday. There is a high possibility that the two remaining co-defendants, Vahid Baniamerian and Abolhassan Montazer may be hanged in the coming days.
Condemning the executions in the strongest terms, IHRNGO calls on the international community, EU Member States in particular, to use all the available channels to stop the executions of Vahid Baniamerian, Abolhassan Montazer and other political prisoners.
IHRNGO Director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said: “By executing four political prisoners from the same opposition group in two consecutive days, the regime is sending a clear message of terror to society. This once again shows that the repressive, corrupt, incompetent and illegitimate regime has no tool for survival other than fear, with the death penalty as its primary instrument.” He added: “We are facing a very real and imminent risk of mass executions of political prisoners. The international community must act with urgency. The European Union, in particular, has an important role to play and should use all available diplomatic tools to help prevent further executions and protect the lives of those at risk.”
According to the judiciary’s Mizan News Agency, political prisoners Pouya Ghobadi and Babak Alipour were hanged at an unspecified location on 31 March 2026. IHRNGO has established the location of their executions as Ghezelhesar Prison in Alborz province. They were defendants in a case of six defendants. Yesterday, state media announced the executions of Mohammad Taghavi Sangdehi and Ali Akbar (Shahrokh) Daneshvarkar. The executions of the four political prisoners were carried out secretly, without their families and representatives being informed in advance, per the Islamic Republic's own laws. It is feared that the two remaining defendants, Vahid Baniamerian and Abolhassan Montazer may be hanged in the coming days.
Late on Sunday night, when authorities tried to transfer Mohammad and Ali Akbar to the pre-execution solitary confinement cells, they were met with resistance from other political prisoners. According to Reza Younesi, the brother and son of political prisoners Ali Younesi and Mir Yousef Younesi: “Security forces attacked and beat political prisoners and forcibly removed at least 22 prisoners, including my brother Ali Younesi, from Ward 4. The families of these prisoners have no information about the condition or whereabouts of their loved ones. Today, unlike previous days, Ali did not make his usual phone call to my mother.”
Babak Alipour, Vahid Baniamerian, Pouya Ghobadi, Abolhassan Montazer, Saeed Masouri, Ahmadreza Haeri, Afshin Baimani, Hamzeh Savari, Ali Younesi, Sepehr Emam-Jomeh, Reza Mohammad Hosseini, Akbar Bagheri, Ali Moezi, Meysam Dehbanzadeh, Loghman Aminpour, Arsham Rezaei and Hossein Ramezani were amongst those transferred to unknown locations.
Babak Alipour was a 34-year-old law graduate who was previously arrested in November 2018 (jailed for two and a half years) and December 2021 (jailed for 15 months). He suffered from intestinal infection and prostate disease during his previous incarcerations which were left untreated for a prolonged period. He was arrested again on 27 December 2023 and transferred to Ward 209 of Evin Prison where he was under interrogation for four months.
Pouya Ghobadi was a 32-year-old electrical engineer whose five family members were jailed and executed in the 1980s. He was arrested with Vahid Baniamerian in February 2018 and 2019. In November 2019, he was transferred to the Greater Tehran Penitentiary where he was attacked by violent crime prisoners. He received a ten year sentence and was released in February 2022 and exiled to Hormozgan province. He was rearrested in Chaldaron on 23 February 2024.
Along with co-defendants Mohammad Taghavi Sangdehi, Ali Akbar (Shahrokh) Daneshvarkar, Vahid Baniamerian, and Abolhassan Montazer, they were subjected to physical and psychological torture, including mock executions, to coerce confessions, held in prolonged solitary confinement and denied access to their lawyers.
The six political prisoners were sentenced to death by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Iman Afshari, on 25 November 2024. They were sentenced on charges of baghy (armed rebellion) through membership of the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI/MEK), with each receiving additional prison and exile terms for charges including “assembly and collusion against national security.” According to their families, the political prisoners were only granted minutes to defend themselves.
https://iranhr.net/en/articles/8659/
https://www.en-hrana.org/political-prisoners-babak-alipour-and-pouya-ghobadi-executed/
https://hengaw.net/en/news/2026/03/article-92-1
